Ore-concentration process.



Ba fw t ii; twee or r m M nnin- 3 ORE-CONCENTRATION PROCESS.

1,257,329. l o Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

'Be it known that I, BES'JAVIN ll..l)osi;. Imcir, a citizen of the United States, residing at Butte. in the county of Silver, Bow and State of Montana. have invented certain new and useful lm irovements in Ore-.(joncentration Processes. of which the following is a specification. v

My invention is animproved flotation process. In the flotation processes as .previously practised certain reagents generally termed modifying agents or ils, although many of such substances are not oils. properly speaking, are added toa freely flowing pulp whereupon the introduction of air or some other gas into the pulp gives rise to the formation of bubbles which collect the do sired material, generally metalliferous sulfids. and rcject the gangue. The modifying agents used for this purpose omprise a great variety of oils, animal. vegetable and mineral oils. coal and Wood tar and deriva tives thereof, various alcohols, hydroxyl compounds and other sul'istances. all of which are referred-to herein as oils or modifying" agents for want of a better generic term. Air, of course, is the most available gas and the one generally used, but in referring to air I include other gases which may be substituted with similar results.

A; procedure heretofore widely used in the application of the principles above referred to consists in adding the modifying agent to the ore pulp and then subjecting the mixture to violent mechanical agitation with the result of beating air into the pulp, after which the mixture is brought. to a state of substantial quiescence, whereupon the air rises in the form of bubbles and floats the concentrate as a froth. Such a procedure is described in numerous United States pat-' cuts and in various publications. Another method of procedure consists in-the intro-.

duction of air through a porous medium such as canvas, ungla zcd earthenware or other porous med um, whiehhas the effect of minutely subdividing the air and introducing it to the pulp 'in the form of very small bubbles, which rising through the pulp collect the desired solid constituents thereof and form a bubble column above the normal pulp level; that is, the level assumed by the pulp, before the introduction of air. By permitting the upper part of the bubble column to overflow efficient concentration is obtained, the overflowing Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 2c, 1913.

Application flled November 16, 1917. Serial No. 202.267.

bubbles carrying with thelnfthe selected mineral. Such a procedure is also well" known in the art. It has heretofore been discovered thatit is noi necessary to mix the modifying agent with the water and solids ((Jl'ljs'llllli'illg the ore pulp. but. that it is suiticient to introduce themodifvdng agentin the forth of .a vapor or gas with the air, l have discovered flirthel'n'iorc that in such amode of procedure it is unnecessary that the modifying agent mixed with the air-be in th-egaseons or vaporized form. but that ellicient results are obtained if the modifying agent. in the liquid form is minutely sub:- divided, so minutely subdivided as to be raifried with the stream of air in the forth i colloquially" iw-ferrcd to as a f'ffog. 'lhei motlifyma agent may he reduced to the condition stated by means of an ordinary atomizing device wherein a st ream of air or other medium aused to impinge upon the oil at high velocity. is carried out cou'ipletey before .the air." carrying the oil is int rodured into the pulp.-

This aiomizing operation that is, after the air has been in'iprcgnated \vith finely divided inodifying agent. it is conducted to the concentration vessel where it is introduced into the ore pulp through some porous medium. In my improved process the modifying agent ie not injected into the pulpby means of an atomizer or injector, but a mixture of air with a modifying agent so finely divided as to remain suspended in the air is prepared in advance and a mixture of air and modifying agent so prepared is then conducted toand introduccd into the ore pulp through a porous medium.

The form of the mixture of modifyingagent with air which I utilize in my process is best described as a fog, this being the term used in the gas making art to describe ananalogous mixture consisting of the gases resulting from distillation in admixture practising my invention I utilize a fog of this character and canjprepare the necessary medium for flotation use by distilling gases from coal, asphaltic matter, gilsonite and other substances, and conducting the gases formed to the flotation apparatus without removing the fog therefrom, or without re moving all of it. My invention includes the use of such fogs whether created by atomizing a liquid as hereinbefore referred to, or whether their existence grows out of a process of distillation of such substance as above referred to.

In the foregoing references to the use of atoinizers for producing the fog referred to I do not intend to convey the idea that my invention consists in the use of a stream of what is popularly known as atomized liquid. Such a stream of atomized liquid carries liquid globules which. while com- )arativcly small. are of such size that they nnmediately settle out of and separate from the stream of air, in. fact remain in suspension only so long as the air is in motion. A familiar example of such atomized liquid is presented by an ordinary scent spray the liquid particles in which settle and collect into a mass immediately the blast of air is arrested, as by the hand placed before the nozzle of the scent spray apparatus. The medium used in my processis not a spray of this kind containing liquid particles so large as to settle and collect into a mass when the air stream comes to rest, but is a body or stream of air carrying liquid or solid parlicl'es so minute that they remain in suspension even when the air is quiescent. spray. -or atonrizml l' plid, consists of liquid particles analogous to rain drops, which settle and fall: the fog which I utiing under some conditions a considerable amount of ordinary spray which immediately settles and gathers in masses, alsore: duces part of the liquid to the condition of .the true fog whielrI utilize in my improved process. When using an atomizer in my improved process if any of the eon'iparatively large globules which settle when the air comes to rest are. produced these large globules are permitted to settle and only the part of the liquid which is reduced to the condition of a true fog is utilized,

What-I claim is:

An ore concentration process comprising the operations of forming a mixture of air with a modifying agent in the form of a fog, introducing said mixture through a fine textureporous medium into an ore pulp, forming bubbles to which certain mineral particles in the ore adhere as said bubbles rise through the pulp, causing said mineral hearing bubbles to form a column of bubbles above the pulp and separating the mineral carried by the bubbles from the remainder of the ore. s

in testimony whereof, I have subscribed my name. I

BENJAMIN H. DOSENBAGH. 

